History repeated itself for Tufts (3-1), which fell 28-36 to the 4-0 Trinity Bantams on Saturday. Trinity has now broken Tufts' undefeated streak in the fourth game of the season in two consecutive years. Though Tufts mounted a late comeback that closed the gap to eight points with just over a minute left of play, Trinity dominated the majority of the contest and was able to see the game out to become one of two unbeaten teams in NESCAC.
The first quarter belonged to the Jumbos, who took a 6-0 lead following an 11-yard touchdown run from senior tri-captain running back Chance Brady, but senior kicker Willie Holmquist missed his first extra point this season.
Tufts would not score again until just 2:08 remained in the first half, while Trinity managed two touchdowns and three field goals in the meantime. Bantams junior quarterback Sonny Puzzo completed touchdown passes of 17 and 19 yards to junior wide receiver Bryan Vieira and sophomore running back Max Chipouras in the second quarter. The latter came with just 2:28 left in the half, putting Trinity up 6-23. The touchdown pass was Puzzo’s tenth of the season.
“I don’t think they threw anything unexpected at us,” senior tri-captain Mike Stearns said. “It was pretty much what we expected. They want to establish the run and be able to throw off of that. They want to get to the edge and move the ball against us.”
The Jumbos fought back, as sophomore quarterback Ryan McDonald connected with junior wide receiver Mike Miller for a 67-yard touchdown on the very first play of Tufts' subsequent drive.
With 2:08 left to play in the half, the Jumbos kicked the ball back to the dynamic Bantams offense. Trinity was not content to settle for a 10-point lead at halftime and drove down the field to add a rushing touchdown to Chipouras’ scoreline. He took the ball in from seven yards out and gave the Bantams a 30-13 lead through the first half.
The Trinity offense seized the game in the second quarter behind Puzzo's explosive arm. The Jumbo pass-rushers regularly pressured Puzzo, but his big plays negated any lost yardage in the half.
“[Puzzo] is a good player,” Stearns said. “But they’re all good players, [Trinity doesn’t] really have very many weaknesses on that team. It’s different to account for both a runner and a passer, but it’s something that we should be able to do.”
The Bantams received the second-half kickoff and immediately earned a fresh set of downs on a pair of Chipouras rushes. On second-and-9, Puzzo dropped back to pass, but instead of hitting a Bantam, Tufts sophomore defensive back Tim Preston jumped in front and snapped Puzzo’s no-interception streak.
Despite Preston’s interception — his second of the season — earning the Jumbos an excellent field position near midfield, a sack on McDonald pushed the Jumbos back nine yards and forced a three-and-out.
The teams traded long drives back and forth, but no more points were added to the board in the third quarter. The fourth saw Trinity add two field goals, one early in the quarter and the other with 2:32 to play.
Following the Bantams' second field goal, the Jumbos received the ball and strung together a three-play, 68-yard drive capped off with a Brady 2-yard touchdown run and Holmquist's conversion on the extra point to bring the score to 36-20.
The Jumbos lined up for an onside kick, and Holmquist's 15-yard ball bounced off a Bantam defender and was recovered by the kicking team on their own 38-yard line. Senior quarterback Alex Snyder was substituted in under center, and the Jumbos lined up to pass. Senior tight end Nik Dean found space in the open field and caught the ball for a 62-yard touchdown.
The Jumbos lined up for the 2-point conversion try and again Snyder found Dean, whose catch pulled the Jumbos within one score of the Bantams, 36-28.
“Our guys aren’t going to give up, regardless of the score,” coach Jay Civetti said. “It’s probably the only positive side of [this game]. All I can talk about is effort. Without effort and without working hard you certainly don’t have a chance, but it doesn’t guarantee you anything.”
The Jumbos tried one more onside kick to give themselves the chance to send the game to overtime. While Holmquist’s kick was good, a Trinity defender secured the ball and locked up the win.
“I think as a whole we didn’t play a great game,” Civetti said. “I don’t know if it comes down to one half or the other, but I think across the board it was disappointing in terms of how we didn’t play the way we had in previous games.”
The defining factor for Trinity in the win was its quarterback play. Puzzo finished 20-30 passing for 273 yards and a pair of touchdowns to go along with 10 rushes for 59 yards. While both Snyder and McDonald had good days passing with 128 and 103 yards respectively, they could not match Puzzo’s production.
McDonald was bottled up in the option game, which had been his greatest strength for most of the season. He finished with 12 rushes for just 15 yards. Brady managed to put up decent yardage on the ground with 94 yards on 27 rushes, an average of just 3.5 yards per rush, and two touchdowns.
“I think we have to execute better [in the read-option],” Civetti said. “We’ve got to be better up front, we’ve got to be better at the quarterback position,...we’ve got to make better reads and on the perimeter, we have to make plays.”
First-year linebacker Greg Holt notched 16 tackles, bringing his season total to 53, the most of any player in the NESCAC. Stearns also finished with 14 tackles in the game.
Tufts next plays on Saturday at the Ellis Oval against Williams. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m.
“We expect to win out,” Stearns said. “That’s what we came here to do, so that’s what we expect. It starts with Williams next week.”
Jumbos' unbeaten streak broken against Bantams
